Oaths: God & Man in Maryland

The U.S. Constitution forbids religious test oaths for any public official And in 1961 the Supreme Court upheld a Maryland notary public who challenged a state law requiring him to declare “belief in the existence of God.” Until last week, though, none of this had seemed to make a profound impression on Maryland.

Then the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed the murder conviction of a Buddhist named Lidge Schowgurow, who successfully argued that he had been denied equal protection of the laws while on trial for killing his wife His jurors, he noted, had to swear to do their duty “in the presence of Almighty God.” Since Buddhists do not believe in God, members of his faith were theoretically excluded from the jury. Though no Buddhists were even considered for his jury, the court up held Schowgurow—and voided all such jury oaths in Maryland.

As a result, Maryland faced what Attorney General Thomas B. Finan called “the gravest crisis in the administration of criminal law in my experience.” Although the decision is not retroactive, in Baltimore alone the wheels of justice were braked for at least 1,476 defendants. Every grand jury in the state faced dismissal; out went every indictment less than 30 days old (including the famous Baltimore assault charge against Atheist Madalyn Murray). Every trial juror now serving may go home, every defendant may get a new trial with new jurors, and every jury conviction open to appeal may be voided.